Contributions to Narval II

The NARVAL I (Next-generation Aircraft Remote-Sensing for Validation Studies) mission led by the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in December 2013 was the first cloud remote sensing campaign of the novel German research aircraft HALO (stationed at the DLR).

Its successor, NARVAL II was a series of airborne research flights that took place in August 2016. The goal was to supplement long-term measurements at the Barbados Cloud Observatory with the aim of better understanding the role of shallow clouds in mediating the Earth’s radiative response to warming, so-called cloud feedbacks.

In the second phase of the HD(CP)² project, the simulations over Germany extend to cover the period of the Narval II campaign to reveal an advance the understanding of cloud formation and the precipitation processes over subtropical marine regions, which are in the heart of climate uncertainty.

ICON Simulations

In cooperation between HErZ and HD(CP)² it was possible to generate cutting edge simulations with ICON (ICON-NARVAL) at 2 and 1 km that serve as input data for the ICON-LEM simulations over the tropical Atlantic. An impression of the ICON-NARVAL simulations for the region of can be found here.

The full high-resolution setup of the ICON-LEM for the tropical Atlantic is still underway, but a visualization of the simulations so far can be accessed here and seen below.

Doldrums rediscovered in storm-resolving simulations

New storm-resolving simulations, showing how resolved convection, and its associate circulations, interact with and form the larger scale circulations within the Atlantic intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) are presented by Daniel Klocke, Matthias Brueck, Cathy Hohenegger and Bjorn Stevens in a recently published article. [read more]

Contributions to NAWDEX

The North Atlantic Waveguide and Downstream Impact Experiment (NAWDEX) was an international field experiment with the overarching scientific aim of to increase the physical understanding and to quantify the effects of diabatic processes on disturbances to the jet stream near North America, their influence on downstream propagation across the North Atlantic, and consequences for high-impact weather in Europe.It took place in September/October of 2016 over Iceland.

The current ICON-LEM will also be used to provide high-resolution simulations over the region of the North Atlantic to accompany the Nawdex observation campaign.